ES 2 - Training grounds

They exited onto a balcony much like the last, the only big difference being that this hall was in ruins. Parts of the roof and walls had caved in and much of it looked like it had melted from immense heat. It was hard to tell what the once delicate stone reliefs of the room had depicted. The stone stairs that led down to the grand floor were long gone, and Ramsey who very much wanted to tryout running in the big space had to settle for running back and forth along the balcony railing.
“Why did you come here? Not to see old me work I’d imagine.” Haircut asked.
“No. It’s Ramsey’s first big shapeshift lesson.” Nell answered.
“Really?” Haircut glanced over at Ramsey. “How did you get Shrapnel to teach you? I’ve never seen anyone control their shifts as precise as him.”
“Reed is going to teach him.” Nell said with emphasis. “I’d make for a horrible shifting teacher, you know that. I’m only here to make sure Reed don’t go too far.”
“Why?” Ramsey asked.
“Because Reed was taught by Maxine, and Maxine is old-fashioned.” Nell said.
“Because Nell screams like a pig, and it’s tiring to listen to.” Haircut said at the same time.
Shrapnel sighed and rubbed his nose under the glasses.
“Remind me again why I am your friend?”
“Because I have the cuddliest belly!” Haircut said and rolled over on his back in a way Ramsey found chokingly defenseless. Suddenly he pounced over the small dog and playfully grabbed Haircuts throat  in his jaws.
“Bang you’re dead!”
“Whoah, Never leave yourself defenseless around a wolf. I should have remembered that.”
“Ramsey!” Nell scolded. Ramesy backed still smiling. Haircut shifted to what probably was supposed to be his human form. He looked more like a demon than anything else. He rubbed his throat with an amused smile and warned with a finger.
“Bad doggie!” Then he laughed and ruffled the fur on Ramsey's head. “I like you kid.”
“You should hurry up, Reed could be here any minute” Nell told him.
“Oh well, no time like the present I guess.” Haircut walked over to the broken stairs and started walking down the first steps. When he reached the ruined part new steps simply formed under his feet from out of the stonewall.
“You made all of this??” Ramsey said realization dawning on him.
“Yep. Mine are the element of stone, weakest documented shifter in history. But I make myself useful.”
“You made the stone statue in the entrance as well?”
“Yes, it nothing fancy, just some human inspired art.”
“I think it looks really cool”
“If you want to see something really cool, check this out.” Haircut turned and went back up the stairs and over to the other end of the balcony. There was a set of chairs, a small table and a cabinet, all made out of stone. In the wall was set a drinking fountain with two bowls, one at human height and one set down by the floor, comfortable for an animal to drink from.
“Tadah!” Haircut said and gestured for the fountain. It looked rather dull compared to the statues Ramsey thought.
“What is it?” he asked.
“You know how most mountains have cracks in them?”
“No?”
“They do. And down in those cracks run water. It makes the mountains a bit weaker, the water freeze and cause greater cracks which can make big boulders fall of. We can’t have that in a training hall like this. If you just shut off all the cracks there would be a lot of water in the surface that have nowhere to go. So instead I made a clever system that makes all the cracks come together in one big pipe. And from this self-sufficient pipe I made smaller pipes which fill those drinking fountains! Pretty genius, right?”
Ramsey had to agree it sounded very smart though he had no idea of what he was talking about.
“Go on, taste the water. There is none better to get anywhere on earth.”
The water in the bowl was clear, cold and tasted of minerals just the way a mountain spring does. Ramsey who had nothing but the city’s processed water for the last weeks drank with delight.

A few minutes later they both stood at the base of the recently reconstructed staircase. Nell had stayed above relaxing in one of the stone chairs.
“Ok kid, time to work the magic!” Haircut said and clasped his hand together. “What do you think, Egyptian, Greek, Mesopotamian, or maybe art deco?”
“Could you make Ninja Wizards from Space?”
Haircut looked at him like he just asked if he could run for president.
“That’s what I get for asking Shrapnel’s protégé… Ninja Wizards? It’s an old movie right?”
“Yes, Shrapnel showed it to me the other day!”
“I tell you what, you little nerd, let’s make the entire story. But you have to remind me of how it goes, it was ages ago Shrapnel dragged me to the theater to watch that dumb old flick.” And with that Haircut started his work, with just a few waves he erased the damage done to the wall and created a blank stone canvas. There was a brief pause where Haircut had a look of concentration on his face and then a groaning sound from the mountain as the roof of the hall rose and arched to mimic the architecture in the movie. 
“Remind me again, how does it begin?”
Ramsey began retelling the plot of the movie, and as he talked Haircut recreated the starships, people and action Ramsey was talking about. It almost looked like some sort of dance when Haircut with big movements filled the cold stone walls with stars and magic.
“You don’t seem weak to me at all.”
“Well kid, believe me, I am. There is just a lot of stone around to work with.”
Just as they reached the last wall and the final confrontation between evil space bishop Zuul and the protagonist Reed arrived at the balcony.

“Having fun, are we?” Reed said as he walked down the staircase that now perfectly resembled the one from the famous ballroom scene. Ramsey looked up and came running like a dog who hadn’t seen his owner for a weekend.
“Mister Johnson! Look at all the amazing things Haircut creates! It’s the entire Ninja Wizards from Space.”
Reed leaned back at a pillar not looking very impressed with Haircuts work. With his mouth Ramsey picked up a small stone figurine Haircut had made him.
“Look, mister Johnson, what Haircut made me.” he said with a lisp, because of the figurine, offering it to Reed. “It’s the protagonist!”
Reed took it and looked at it skeptically.
“Please don’t teach the boy to play with dolls, he is way too old for that.”
“Blah blah blah. All I hear is a grumpy old man who doesn’t appreciate art.” Haircut said from the corner where he was finishing up the relief.
“Shrapnel, catch.” Reed said and threw the figurine to Shrapnel up at the balcony. “We wouldn’t want to crush it accidentally.”
Shrapnel just almost managed to catch the flying miniature stone person. Haircut glanced irritated at Reed.
“You could have just given it to me, since I’m going up there. I don’t want to be crushed accidentally either.” Hairdo trotted up the stairs.
Reed walked up to Ramsey.
“Human form!”
“Y-yes" Ramsey transformed.
“You're in the human city now, here you have to be a…” Reed suddenly realized the boy were completely naked.
“Nell! why is he naked?!” Reed shouted irritated up to the balcony.
“I didn’t know he was naked. I’m not in the habit of asking people whether they wear clothes under their pelt.”
Ramsey looked down at the floor.
“Sorry. They are so uncomfortable to bring into my normal form.”
“Get used to it.” he patted Ramsey on the head, “You can go back to your wolf form, but I want you to bring your clothes next time. When you're human, you wear clothes!”
“Okay." Ramsey transformed back into his wolf form. “Sorry."
Reed sat down and scratched him behind his ears.
“Don't worry, I was the same in your age. But my teacher beat me up every time I came naked to her lessons. I started to come naked just to piss her off.” he smiled. Ramsey laughed.
“But don't think I let you get away this easily next time.” Reed rose again. “Okay, do you remember that time in the forest I showed you how to become a human?”
“Yes!”
“Today we're gonna do the same, but you're going to become a big scary monster!”
“Why would I want to become a monster?” Ramsey said curiously.
“Because it's your true form, the essence of what you are. As I said the first time we met. You are not a wolf.” Reed placed himself over Ramsey with one leg on either side holding him in place like you do with a disobedient puppy. He stroked Ramsey over his soft ears.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Ramsey.” he said happy as ever.
“No, you are no one. Forget Ramsey for a while." Reed said calmly and closed Ramsey eyes with a hand. “Close your eyes, you are a blank slate.”
“But I'm Ramsey! I don't want to be anyone else!” Ramsey started to try and lick Reeds fingers and to escape his grip.
“Concentrate!” Reed said irritated. “Sit!” Ramsey sat down with a loud thump.
“You are just a big dog, ain't you” Ramsey looked up at him with big puppy eyes and tried out the moves Haircut had taught him.
“Okay let's try this again, calm down, take a deep breath. Shhh, calm down I said.” He held Ramsey’s snout in a firm grip, closing his mouth preventing him from licking. Ramsey relaxed with a sigh and looked very unhappy.
“Don't give me that look, close your eyes and concentrate" He closed Ramsey’s eyes again.
“Just empty your mind.”

“I never thought Reed would try to talk him into his demon form. I thought he would beat it out of him like Maxine did to him.” Nell said surprised.
“You haven't seen him train with his students, have you?” Haircut barked.
“No, I don’t come here if I can avoid it.”
“The beating comes later.” The dog smiled and hanged with his corgi head over the lower part of the balcony parapet. “But I think he is trying to avoid it"

Ramsey had actually calmed down and tried to listen to his teacher. Reed told him to forget everything he knew; who he was, his name, everything that mattered to him, while he stroked his ears and head softly.
“Your inner should be as black and empty as the night sky over the city.”
"But it's not."
“What do you see?”
“Flames, endless flames in the distance"
“Good, go to them" Reed was surprised it went so easy, it could take days even weeks to clear his students minds, but not even then his students didn’t always manage to empty their heads enough to see anything.
“Reed I don't want to" suddenly Ramseys voice was filled with terror.
“Go" Ramsey started to try and break free again while flailing with his legs. “This is you! Don't try to run from it!”
Ramsey started to scream.
“I don't want to! Please!”
“You must face yourself!” Ramsey caught fire, the whole wolf burned from top to toe. Reed was still holding him, now also with the wolfs neck skin in a firm grip with both hands. Ramsey tried with all his might to break free but Reed kept him in place. Then Ramsey started to transform while screaming.
“I'm Ramsey! I'm a wolf! I'm a… AAARGH!”
“No you're not!” Reed threw himself on the ground and rolled away towards safety. “This is you", he whispered pleased with himself.
Ramsey was becoming unrecognizable, the fur was replaced with big plates with fire erupting between them, his face resembled a skull more than that of a wolf. He had grown into an eight meters tall four-legged beast. The beast looked around roaring before he threw himself right into the wall. The blow, that would have razed any normal wall, did little more than crack the solid mountain. He made another attempt to get out of the room and threw himself into the wall at the other side the hall. Frustrated he roared, smashed the floor and lay ruin to Haircut’s Wizards from space relief.
“Okay kid, it's time to calm down!” Reed came out onto the floor again. “Now we come to the hard part! Time to remember who you are again!”
The beast saw him, his red burning eyes said one thing, and one thing only. Kill.
“Ramsey! Do you remember me?” The beast roared again and threw himself over Reed, whom in the last moment also transformed, but into a giant titan. 

Shrapnel looked down with a grimace from the balcony as Ramsey finally shifted into demon form. He would never admit to jealousy, he just hated how effortlessly other shifters changed form. As Reed changed to match his pupil in one fluid movement, Nell turned away. Ever since they entered the underground facility Nell had been tense, his own memories of the place were filled with a lot of pain and humiliation, but he had done his best to hide the uneasiness from the young wolf. He sat down beside Haircut at the small stone table. Haircut poured him some water from a stone carafe into a stone glass.
“I went up to Norfolk this weekend.” Haircut said. Norfolk was a small town located deep in the northern wilderness. It was a community built by shifters on an island in a lake. To avoid detection Askr had done some sort of light-bending to make it look like a part of the lake, it wasn’t perfect but so far no human had discovered the island. Many of the weaker shifters preferred to spend their time there with their own kind away from prying eyes.
“How was it?” Nell asked.
“Like you’d expect. There were a few odd rumors flying around, otherwise calm.”
“Did you get what I asked for?”
“Yes, though honestly I don’t know why you need it.” Haircut bought up a bunch of wrinkled papers from his pocket.
“Yes you do.” Nell grabbed the papers and immediately started to sort through them. “Is this all?”
“It wasn’t like I could just walk up to people and ask them who their grandma was.” Norfolk was a more tight knitted community and it was far more likely that you knew who your parents was if you came from Norfolk. That being said shifters had no traditions of family relations at all.
“Sorry, it’s just important to me.”
“Honestly I think you are being obsessive about the whole thing.”
“I owe it to Quake. We are the only two living souls who know about this and I wouldn’t feel good if I at least didn’t try.”
“And if you find Quakes lost child, what are you gonna do? Say ‘hey your mom is dead, sorry’?”
Nell gave him a warning glance.
“It’s not about Quake anyway.” Haircut continued “I’m worried about you being obsessive about the other thing.”
“What other thing?”
“Don’t play dumb with me Shrapnel. I’ve seen your work. You have been trying to track shifter family relations long before Quake died.”
“So?” Nell said with clenched jaws looking down at the papers in his hands.
“You are trying to find your own parents.” Haircut put a hand down on the papers ad tried making eye contact with Nell. “Why?”
“I just want answers.”
“Well, you ain’t gonna get none. And while you dig yourself deeper into this it will start to eat away on you. You’ll end up losing contact with the present.” Haircut lifted his hand from the papers again. “And with the people who care about you.”
“You don’t know what it’s like…” Nell said silently.
“I know what it’s like being judged for how I was born.”
“You don’t know what it’s like not being able to shift! It’s supposed to be as easy as breathing. But you don’t know what it feels like having your bones change place with your nerves!” Nell took a deep breath to get his voice under control. “It is horrendous. And I feel it between all of my shapes. I just want to know why I have to suffer and who is responsible.”
“Nell you are an amazing person. I was happy when I thought you would be the one to train the kid. No one have the knowledge and the extreme control you do, and you have learned it by overcoming your own hardships. That victory should not be dulled by focusing on your flaws.”
Nell grunted and looked away.
“Tell me honestly Nell, if you could change your animal form to any other animal on earth, would you do it?”
Haircut never got an answer because just as Nell opened his mouth the two big creatures fighting below slammed into the balcony.

”GET A GRIP ON YOURSELF RAMSEY” The two gigantic monsters tumbled around in the hall. One feral flaming beast and one humanoid titan wrestling over control.
“Calm down and try to remember who you are!” Reed took a firm grip around Ramsey’s neck and forced him down on the floor. “It’s me, Reed. You don’t want to attack me. I’M NOT THE ENEMY.”
Ramsey hissed and twisted in Reeds grip.
“TALK TO ME!” Reed shouted. “IT HELPS IF YOU TALK.”
With a burst of strength Ramsey ripped himself free of Reed. He slammed into Reed who lost his balance and they both smashed into the balcony. The balcony pulverized under the weight of the two monsters. Nell, Haircut and the stone furniture started to slide down an avalanche of crushed stone. Nell desperately tried to save his precious research notes from the burning inferno of the fight.
“Get out of here Haircut!” Nell shouted grabbing pages in the air.
“Get out yourself! Ignore the damn papers!”
“Do you have copies?”
“No, but is your research worth more than your life?!”
By the end of the conversation Nell had slid all the way down to the training halls floor, Haircut had shifted back to dog and expertly jumped and balanced on the sliding rocks.
Reed had regained his balance and the two burning stood looking at each other, none of them aware of the destruction they had caused.Ramsey growled and hissed but made no moves to attack again.
“Okay, that’s a good boy.” Reed said slowly walking forward. “Now talk to me.”
Neither of them noticed Nell who dwarfed beneath them. He tried to slip out of the way when without warning Ramsey attacked again. Nell rushed back and forth beneath the feet of the battling monsters to avoid getting burned to a crisp. And then Reed managed to get a lock on Ramsey again and pinned him to the floor. It was only then he saw Nell, standing panting before them.
“Nell? What are you doing?”
“You smashed the balcony…”
“That’s no reason to be waltzing under out feet. We could have hurt you”
“I’m fine.” That was not entirely true as the tail under his robe let on that he was resisting his own natural urge to shift into something stronger.
“No you are not. You are burning.”
Nell quickly put out the small flame that had taken hold on his shoulder.
“What now?” Reed asked casually with the struggling Ramsey beneath him. “What would the great Shrapnel do?”
“I don’t know.” Nell said sourly. “Why don’t you just bang him in the head or something?”
“I’m surprised hearing that from you who likes to reason with everything”
“Well, I see no point reasoning with something that won’t listen.”
“Why don’t you do the banging then?” It was hard to tell with this form, but Nell could have sworn Reed was smiling. “As you can see my hands are rather busy.”
“No.”
“Why don’t we try to appeal to his feelings.” came Haircuts voice from the top of the ruble.
None of Ramsey’s teaches payed any notice to him, they just continued their bickering.
“Always the hypocrite”
“I’m surprised you even know what that means.”
“I learned it just for you.”
Haircut sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Hey Ramsey! Ramsey?” Haircut skipped back and forth atop the rubble wagging his tail, actually managing to catch the beast’s attention. “Who’s a good boy? Do you want to play?”
“Bang.” Ramsey said with a dead voice, making both Reed and Nell fall silent. “YOU ARE DEAD!”
Like an explosion Ramsey once again ripped free and leaped at his target.
“Oh no, wrong game.” Haircut whispered. He turned to run, but it was too late.
Like the crack of a whip Nell shifted. Being placed right under Ramsey’s jump it wasn’t an angle of attack the beast could have anticipated. Nell quickly wrapped all of his thin legs around Ramsey, effectively incapacitating him. The momentum still carried them forward and they smashed heavily into the stone pile.
“Reed!” Nell shouted.
“Yes, yes, no need to shout.” Out of nowhere Reed formed a gigantic flaming axe. He swung it around and hit Ramey in the head with the flat side.
“Alright, that’s it. Lessons over!” He swung it around again before Ramsey could reorient himself from the first hit. “Goodnight, it’s time to go back into being a cute pup!”

Several hits later Ramsey had finally calmed down and returned to the small brown wolf he always thought he was. Reed had also changed back to human form, Nell on the other hand wandered grumbling into a corner smashing rocks in his jaws on the way. Ramsey was crying and Reed sat down beside him and hugged him tight.
“You did good boy. I did not think it would be so easy to lure you into your demon form.”
“It was awful.” Ramsey hulked. “I don’t know what happened. I completely lost control of myself. I never want to do that again. Please don’t make me do it again…”
“Such… don’t be such a wuss. You’ll gain control over it soon enough.”
Ramsey looked around the ruined hall, facing the destruction he had caused. Not a single piece of Haircuts work was still intact.
“This is what we are capable of. This is why we must learn to control it.” Reed told him softly.
Ramsey’s eyes fell upon the bug-like shape of Nell in the corner, who were currently crushing the head of the space bishop in his jaws. He had never seen Nell in anything other than his human form, and never much thought about that.
“Is he mad at me?”
“Shrapnel? Nah, I don’t think so, he is just throwing a tantrum.”
“Why?” Ramsey thought about how Nell always seemed to try to avoid the topic every time Ramsey tried to talk about shifting with him.
“When you go into these forms you become a bit irrational, you see. Your feelings are tied to your biological body. When you return to your true forms you are stripped of your feelings, turning you into a gigantic war machine. You have to remember how to feel, but even when you do it’s dull in comparison.” Reed explained. “Feelings like anger, grief and pain are easier for the demon to understand, but it’s not the kind of feelings that makes it easier to find your way back to who you are.”
By the time Reed said pain there was a loud crack from Nell as he bit through another boulder.
“They can even awaken the beast if you are not careful.”
“But you hit me in the head. That hurt. And I returned to myself.” He tried to rubbed his head where Reeds axe had hit him, then remembered it was a gesture easier managed as human.
“Yeah, pain is weird. It’s one of the things than can actually make us return to biological form, that’s why you have to be careful about it. Too much and you can end up waltzing back and forth between shapes. But it is practical for making your students stop attacking people they shouldn’t attack.” He laughed and ruffled the fur on Ramsey’s head, then he wrestled Ramsey down on the floor in a big brotherly fashion.
“Pff, this is so much easier when you are just a big dog.”
“I am not a dog!” Ramsey laughed as he tried to bite Reed’s arms.Reed let him go and stood up.
“I think it’s time to get lunch.” Reed declared. “Are you coming Shrapnel?”
“Give me a minute will you…”
“I’m hungry. You are a worse wuss than the pup.”
“Cover his ears will you?”
With a sigh Reed covered Ramsey’s ears with his hands. To late he realized he only had one set of arms.
“Wait, who’s gonna cover my ears?”
With a shriek like a collapsing metal structure Nell changed back. The closed stone room did not make things better as the sound bounced around and amplified. Reed had use a lot of willpower not to remove the hands from Ramsey to cover his own ears. Then it fell blissfully silent as sudden as it had started.
“Done.” Nell said with a hoarse voice.
The trio started to walk up the temporary new stairs that Haircut had made, Nell only slightly shaky. At the top of the stairs they were met by the short dog.
“I’m sorry about the room” Ramsey said to him.
“Don’t be, they are made to be destroyed. Like a sand castle.”
“Hey, sausage dog, maybe you should fix the place while you are still here?” Reed said.
“That’s awfully rude to say!” Ramsey whispered abashed.
“But he is a sausage dog.” Reed said with a mocking smile.
“Guess you are right. It’s not often I fix the same room twice in a day” Haircut said. He started to mumble architectural styles while trotting down the stair.
“Make the balcony more stable this time, will you.” Nell said weakly as the dog passed him.

As they worked their way out of the mountain complex Reed continued to tutor Ramsey about the finer details of shifting into demon form.
“I don’t think it will take you long to get a hang of this.” Reed said. “We'll continue your training again tomorrow.”
“No, I don't want to, please can't we do something else?” Ramsey said with his tail between his legs.
“Stop whining, it won't help you"
When looking sad at Reed didn’t help him, Ramsey tried looking sad at Shrapnel.
“Reed is right. You need training. No reason to postpone it.” Ramsey tried looking even sadder. “Don’t be sad. It happened a few good things today as well, right?”
Nell dug in his pocket and produced the wrinkled research papers. Unwrapping them reviled the small stone figurine Haircut had made. That immediately put a smile on Ramsey’s face. He grabbed the figurine with his mouth, then realized that he had no other way to carry it and no place to put it. In the end he gave it back to Nell.
“Last lesson for today. Pockets, makes it easier to keep things safe.”